A show of hands: who felt physically exhausted after watching WWE WrestleMania 34 this past April? I’m talking about starting the near SEVEN HOURS show from the pre-show kickoff to the WWE sign-off graphic with Roman Reigns covered in blood. **raises hands** With RAW being 3 hours (thank you for the condensed 1-1/2 hour re-braodcast, Hulu), SmackDown likely move to Fox and possible extension to 3 hours, and now every pay-per-view being brand-combined and extended by another hour, you’d think that WrestleMania and the other “Big Four” events that already use the RAW and SmackDown rosters (SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series) would be exempt. Well, as far a WrestleMania is concerned, L-O-L of course not; it appears that next year’s WrestleMania might find a way to go even longer than this year’s, somehow…someway. Why God?
According to The Wrestling Observer, via Sportskeeda, WWE is no longer that concerned with trying to have WrestleMania finish close to or around midnight. Much of that is due to the existence of the the WWE Network, so there’s no worry about going over their set time slots, typical of traditional PPV events. To be honest, the main positive I can pull from the notion of an eight-hour long WrestleMania 35 would be that at least every match on the pre-show and main card would have enough time to showcase the extensive rosters and for the wrestlers’ matches to tell a full and unrushed story. Again, L-O-L, this is WWE we’re talking about. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got an extra hour of skits, WWE-branded ad spots, and more live music performances. I just don’t want to end up watching WrestleMania at an unreasonable hour and never wanting to watch ANY PRO WRESTLING ever again afterward…